Detroit Red Wings assistant coach Paul MacLean became the third candidate to interview for the
Blue Jackets coaching vacancy yesterday, and Jackets interim coach Claude Noel will become the
fourth on Friday,
The Dispatch has learned.

Even so, general manager Scott Howson - who is conducting the interviews at this stage - said it
could be at least two more weeks before a coach is hired.

"It's looking more like it will be late May," Howson said. "You can't control the whole
process."

The reason for the delay, NHL sources said, is that Howson wants to interview Guy Boucher, coach
of the American Hockey League's Hamilton (Ont.) Bulldogs.

That might take awhile. On Tuesday, Boucher's club advanced to the AHL's Western Conference
finals, a best-of-seven series which will start no sooner than Thursday.

For now, it appears Howson's focus is on the two most experienced candidates on his list.

MacLean, a former NHL forward who has spent the past five seasons on the Red Wings' bench, drove
to Columbus yesterday morning for a daylong meeting with Howson.

"It went very well," MacLean said. "I guess you always think it went well, but I wasn't
disappointed at all, in any aspect. I was actually quite happy.

"It was thorough and very well organized, just as I expected it would be. We covered a lot of
ground, a lot of issues."

Asked to summarize, MacLean said:

"It was very thorough in aspects of the game - the way it's played today, the way I pictured it
being played in Columbus, and the way it's played throughout the league. And there were questions -
'What would you do here or there?' in certain situations."

Noel, who guided the Blue Jackets to a 10-8-6 record after Ken Hitchcock was fired Feb. 3, asked
to be one of the final interviews.

When he meets with Howson on Friday, he'll be the fourth interview, following Scott Arniel,
coach of the AHL's Manitoba Moose; Kevin Dineen, coach of the AHL's Portland Pirates; and
MacLean.

As for when Howson might meet with Boucher, that's anybody's guess. If Hamilton's series lasts
more than five games, an interview with Boucher would likely have to be done during the NHL
Scouting Combine, set for May 24-30 in Toronto.

Should Boucher's club advance to the Calder Cup finals, Howson could decide to force the issue
or skip interviewing Boucher altogether. Waiting until after the AHL's championship would string
the interview until early to mid-June, something Howson would like to avoid.

And that's just the first round of interviews. Two or three candidates will be called back for
second interviews.